So I Finally Tried Boo Berry…

Many years ago, I used to frequent a comedy website called i-Mockery owned by a guy named RoG. At some point during that time, I stumbled across RoG’s strange obsession with a cereal called Boo Berry. In an effort to grow Boo Berry’s army of devotees and stake a permanent spot in the cereal isle, he has run an Unofficial Boo Berry Page since at least 2000. You should check it out, it’s so nineties, I just love it.

Now, I’d seen Boo Berry before, albeit infrequently, and I was aware of its existence, but, as there are so many choices in the grocery store, I never really gave it a shot. But when somebody fanatacizes over something, it has a curious effect – it makes one curious. It’s curious how curious it can make you. Also curious is how polarizing the cereal seemed to be. Maybe my memory has just been muddled over the years, but it seemed like people either loved it or hated it outright. My favourite photo is this one of RoG force-feeding his sobbing friend a bowl full of Boo Berry, which I’ve used now and then in attempts to persuade people to help me locate a box and group test it. It never really worked, mostly because my friends and acquaintances were really bad about following through with any interesting ideas.

But, lo, just last month, at Ferny’s Christmas party, old friend Baby Professor came to town with a mysterious gift just for me. On the brown wrapping, in cryptic runes, it read, “I don’t know what you’ll do with this, but my heart says you want it.” A friendly face greeted me from within. The time had finally come.

A Brief History of Boo Berry

Boo Berry totes itself as the world’s first blueberry-flavoured cereal. It is a part of General Mills’ Monster Cereals breakfast line, which includes Count Chocula, the first chocolate cereal, and Frankenberry, the first strawberry cereal, as well as two others which are oft forgotten. Boo Berry was released a year after the first two, in 1972.

Boo Berry typically only shows up in markets for a brief time every year – around Halloween. I believe that some claim Count Chocula and Frankenberry also only make annual appearances, but I’m fairly certain that I see them with some regularity in my area, whereas Boo Berry is strangely absent. I’m not sure why that is. Is Boo Berry just not as popular? Is it because it’s blueberry-flavoured and not something more mainstream like chocolate? I can only assume as much.

Whatever the case may be, unless RoG gets his way, chances are that, if you want a box of Boo Berry, you’re going to have to wait until October, drive around until you find it in store, and stock up on a bunch of it. Baby Professor found some in October and bought at least two boxes, one for me and one for himself. He said he tried it and liked it. Finally, after nearly a decade of idle wondering, I, too, would uncover life’s ultimate question: “Is Boo Berry good or, like, not?”

Opening the Box

A fresh box of Boo Berry.

You might not recognize the cereal at first if you haven’t seen it in a while. Boo Berry has this new, CG look to him (the artist confirms that it’s meant to play into Pixar’ popularity), a variant of the theme which I guess was introduced in 2010. I like that the cereal itself isn’t even featured on the front of the box. Boo Berry’s just like, “Yeah, you drove 2,600 miles just to buy a box of my cereal. I don’t need to show you shit.” Fortunately, mine is a “family size” box, and I’m eating it by myself, so it will last for a while.

The back of the box.

The back of the box seems rather tailored to the dedicated Boo Berry eater. Two of the three little “games” involve matching box art to the year it came out, and there’s even a little screenshot from the first Boo Berry commercial in that TV in the bottom-right corner. The whole aesthetic of the thing indicates to me that they’re mostly making this cereal for the people who demand it, while trussing it up in a way that might appeal to younger initiates.